Hey everyone! This chapter was supposed to be posted this weekend but unfortunately, life got the better of me! But it is here now!

Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed! I, unfortunately, was not able to respond to everyone's review this past chapter, but know that I appreciate it!

A few announcements!

1) If you follow Not How It Should Be, you know that I was supposed to post a chapter on Sunday. But I have decided to only post once a month for this story. It takes a lot longer to write that story than it does my other ones and unfortunately, I need more time between updates.

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Thank you all so much for sticking with me! Our story is coming to an end soon, I am hoping it will be finished by the end of the year :)

Here is chapter 33!

"How much longer?" I whined to Dimitri for probably the hundredth time. We had only been on the plane for an hour, and I was ready to be off of it. I was just so excited to be back in Russia. And see the Belikov's!

"Roza, you know it takes thirteen and a half hours," Dimitri said to me for the hundredth time. His nose was deep into his western novel that I had gotten him for Christmas. "Why don't you get some of your assignments done? That way you don't have to worry about them later?"

"I could do that," I sighed. "Do you think I can get a lot done?"

"I am sure if you focus you can get more than half of them done. It's everything you already know anyway," he shrugged. "Just focus, and if you do that, you will probably get a majority of it done."

"Okay," I agreed as I pulled out my school bag. Dimitri did have a point, if I did it now I wouldn't have to do it later. I took out my lap top, plugged in headphones and started studying. The fight would go by so much faster if I was being productive.

"Roza," I heard a deep sensual voice say. "Roza, baby, wake up."

"Go away," I groaned. I was cozy and I didn't want to wake up.

"Babygirl, wake up," I heard the accented voice say again a lot closer. I felt a kiss on my temple, and the on the tip of my nose. "Wake up sweetie."

I groaned loudly, the voice chuckled softly. I was comfortable, I wanted to keep sleeping. I was in the place of half dreaming. Unfortunately the kisses that were coming early had kept up and I couldn't ignore the voice any more. I slowly opened my eyes blinking a few times.

"Hey sleepy," Dimitri teased as I looked at him.

I growled at him, in a very unladylike fashion. "What time is it?" I asked making a face.

"It is nine in the morning," Dimitri grinned at me. "And we just landed in Russia!"

"Okay, can I sleep now?" I asked him not really carrying that we had landed in Russia. I just wanted to go back to bed.

"Come on," Dimitri unbuckled my seatbelt and lifted me up bridal style. My arms instantly going around his neck as he carried me off the plane. My head resting on his shoulder.

"Belikov," I heard Pavel greet Dimitri as he carried me off the plane. "Is she alright?"

"Yes, just sleeping," Dimitri explained. "And of course I tried to wake her up, but that didn't go over well."

"I am sure it didn't," Pavel chuckled. "Your bags are already loaded into the car, first stop is your family's home. Maybe she will be more awake when she sees your sisters."

"Maybe," I heard Dimitri chuckle.

"Where are we going?" I groaned as Dimitri set me up in the back of a car, my eyes opening slightly.

"To see Mama and my sisters," Dimitri told me as he buckled me in. "Might want to perk up, Vika won't let you sleep."

"I have thirty minutes," I mumbled leaning my head back and closing my eyes again.

"ROZA!" I heard a high pitched squeal before I felt a body slam into me.

"Fuck," I grumbled as I opened my eyes. All I could see was a mop of dark hair in my face. I was having such a good dream, I really didn't want it to end.

"You are here!" I heard the high pitched squeal again.

"Vika," I laughed softly as my brain registered the owner of the voice. "It's good to see you too."

"We have so much to do," she exclaimed as she pulled away from me. "Come on, come on!"

Vika had grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the car. I could hear Dimitri behind me chuckling as Vika pulled me toward the house. She was so excited and it was infectious.

"Roza," Olena greeted me as Vika and I walked into the house. "How are you? How was the flight?"

"Hey Olena," I grinned at her and accepted her invitation for a hug. "I am good, the flight was good. Dimitri's coming inside, he's grabbing the presents."

"How are you doing after everything that's happened?" Olena asked me after I pulled away from the hug. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me to the bar stools in front of the kitchen counter.

"I am doing okay," I told her honestly as I sat at one of the stools. "Still trying to work through all of it. It's not great but it's better."

"It will take time," she told me softly as she went to the other side of the counter. I watched her pull out a bowl of dough that was in the fridge. She was making black bread. She came over to stand in front of me as she needed the dough.

"Yeah, that's what Dimitri said and Pavel," I told her nodding.

"Oh Mama! Let's get off such a depressing subject," Vika said as she slid onto the stool next to me. "I have so much to tell you! Nikolai asked me out!"

"Oh! Are you excited? When are you going out?" I asked her excitedly. Nikolai had been Vika's long-term crush for as long as I could remember. Him finally asking her out was super exciting.

"I am so excited!" She gushed. "We are going out this Saturday, and then he said he wants to ride back to school together. So we are meeting Sunday afternoon at the train station."

"Oh!" I exclaimed excitedly for her. "You have to let me help you get ready!"

"Well, duh," she said laughing. "He's so sweet Rose! And I like him so much, I just hope it goes well."

"It will go great! And Sunday morning you and I will be talking about how much fun you had on your date!" I told her.

"Who's going on a date?" Dimitri's voice came from the doorway of the kitchen.

"Vika," I told him waiting for the explosion.

"Haha, that's very funny," he said dryly. "Now, who's going on a date? Sonya? Karolina?"

"I am, Dimka," Viktoria said a little miffed. I was sure she rolled her eyes at him.

"No, you aren't," he told her sternly.

"You aren't my father, you don't make those decisions," Vika snapped at him.

"Mama, tell her she can't go!" Dimitri exclaimed looking at his mother for help.

"Dimka, your sister is going on a date with a very nice boy. It's up to me and she will be fine," Olena told him. She was currently molding the dough into five loaves.

"But, Mama!" Dimitri complained I thought he was going to stop his foot he looked so upset.

"Dimka, your sister is old enough," Olena said rolling her eyes. "After all you and Rose started dating when Rose was much younger than your sister."

"That's different!" He argued.

"It is?" Olena asked him. "I don't seem to remember it being different. I also remember you asking for the house to yourself after her fifteenth birthday. Vika is sixteen, seventeen in a month. She is past the age of consent and she legally can be married with parent permission."

Dimitri crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. He was far from happy. I didn't want him to be miserable this entire trip. Maybe I could make this a little easier for him.

"Why don't we double with you and Nikolai?" I suggested to Viktoria. "You guys are doing what? Dinner and a movie?"

"Yeah," she told us. I could see she was a little disappointed that it wouldn't just be the two of them, but it was better than hearing Dimitri give her a hard time. Plus, I could make sure Dimitri and I sat in front of them at the movie. That way they can at least have a little bit of time to themselves.

"It will be fun, I promise!" I told her smiling.

"Fine," Dimitri said grumbling. I knew it wasn't exactly what he wanted but it was better than her going on a date and Dimitri not being there. And soon Vika would be back at school with Nikolai and Dimitri would be here in Baia.

"So are we meeting my dad? Also, where are we staying?" I asked Dimitri confused. I was sure he and Pavel talked about the logistics in the car.

"Your dad said he's taking us all out to dinner tonight," Dimitri explained. "And then he said that he had something to show us tonight, I don't know where we are staying."

"He's probably going to want us to stay with him," I shrugged. "Olena, I hope that is okay with you."

"Oh please, Abe's is not that far from here," she said to me as she went to place the loaves of bread in the oven. "And you two will spend plenty of time here, I just know it."

"Yeah, we will be here for at least one meal a day," I teased my soon to be mother-in-law. Olena's cooking was literally to die for and I had a habit of inviting myself over for dinner. She knew that we would see her at least once a day.

"Of course you will," Olena laughed. "Now, have you thought of any wedding details?"

"I was looking at dates the other day, I was thinking maybe October 4," I told her. "It's a Saturday. I was also thinking we could get married here, in Baia."

"I think that's a great idea," Dimitri piped up. "I would love to get married at the family church."

"I would too," I smiled at him. "Plus, there really isn't a lot of people from America that will come to the wedding. Most people are here in Russia."

"That's a good point," Dimitri agreed. "I didn't realize that it makes more sense to have the wedding in Russia. Not to mention the ones in the states can afford to make the trip."

"Yeah, we should probably start planning soon," I agreed. "I don't want anything big though. I want something mellow."

"What changed your mind?" Dimitri asked me. He knew I had wanted a massive wedding originally, but since Spokane I didn't really care for it. I just wanted to be with him, and it didn't matter if we had a big wedding or just went down to the court house and signed papers.

"Just a little perspective," I shrugged not really getting into it. Dimitri knew me well enough that he didn't need to ask about what I was referring too. He would understand.

"Well, enough about wedding plans," Olena said to us. "Let's have some breakfast, sorry it's a bit late. You made excellent time."

"I would wait years for your cooking, Olena," I grinned at her.

We had been in Baia for about a week now, and I was currently helping Vika get ready for her date.

"Thanks for helping me," Vika told me as we riffled through her closet. "I have no idea what to wear! And Sonya is no help, she's crabby because of the baby."

Sonya was currently about five months pregnant and she was getting on everyone's nerves. Talk about hormones, she was crabby! Dimitri had started hiding whenever she was near. Poor guy was getting the most of it because he was male. Whatever happened with the father of Sonya's baby must have been bad. She was upset at the entire male population, her brother included.

"I am more than happy to help," I grinned at her as she tried on an outfit. "No, try something a little more feminine," I said to her as I took in the dark blue jeans and button up top.

"Okay," she nodded as she went through her closet again. "Do you promise Dimitri won't get out of hand?"

"I promise," I told her. "We are going to have dinner with you and then sit a few rows in front of you. Just hang back to go to buy snacks with Nikolai, and we should already be seated."

"I can do that," she called to me as she changed her clothes. "What about this?" She walked out of her closet wearing a sweater dress that hugged her curves.

"You look amazing, but maybe a little too nice for pizza and a movie," I told her. "You want something comfy and cute. And like you just threw it out but look fabulous."

"I have no idea," she said to me. "I don't know how to do this!"

"Sit down," I told her as I got off her bed. Vika followed my orders and sat on her bed while I went to rummage through her closet.

I pulled out a pair of worn skinny jeans that I knew fit her body like a second skin and threw them at her. I also dug around for a feminine top. I found one that was more of a fall shirt but it would do. It was low cut and was a soft grey color with browns and whites making flower patterns. It wasn't fitted which would give a nice contrast to the fitted jeans she wore. I threw the shirt at her.

"Roza, it's going to be too cold for that," she called to me.

"Just put it on," I called back. "I am not done!" I kept digging around until I found a brown cardigan, it matched the colors in her shirt perfectly. I held on to the cardigan as I dug around for a pair of tall dark brown heeled boots I had lent Vika a few years ago, which she never returned. They would go perfect with her outfit, plus the heel was low enough to be casual but high enough her legs would look good.

I walked out of her closet to see Vika had put on the clothes I had thrown at her. "Do I look okay?" She asked me.

"You look great," I told her. She really did. The shirt was low cut enough to show a little cleavage but not so low it looked trashy. The jeans fit her really well and was a nice contrast to the loose top. "Here," I handed her the cardigan and boots. "I knew you still had them."

"I don't know what you are talking about," she teased me. Vika quickly put on the cardigan and the boots. She looked incredible. She looked amazing but it looked effortless. The goal as a woman, to look good without looking like you were trying to hard.

"You look great, now sit while I do your make up and hair," I complimented her. I quickly did Vika's makeup. I kept it subtle because she was naturally beautiful. I put a little eye liner, mascara, blush, and a pink lip gloss. Vika's hair curled naturally, like her brothers, so I took my curling iron and just added a few curls so it was more uniform. I took a flat clip and pulled half of her hair back, leaving a few curls loose by her face. She looked amazing, and Nikolai was going to drop his teeth.

"Oh wow," Vika looked at her self in the mirror. "Thank you."

"You look great," I smiled at her. "Now he should be here any minute."

"I am so nervous," she looked at me. "I don't know what to do, what do I say? How do you do it?"

"Do what?" I asked her a little confused.

"All of it," Vika told me. "You leave men speechless and you always know what to say. You know how to flirt and how to make them want more."

"Vika," I smiled softly at her. "I am just myself, I don't try to flirt. And you will leave him speechless the moment he sees you. You are incredible and gorgeous. Just be yourself, that's the girl he asked out."

"I don't think I can do this," she said as she sat on her bed.

"Yes, you can," I grinned at her. "You know, I felt the same way when I went on my first date with your brother."

"You did?"

"Oh yeah!" I laughed. "I was terrified and I didn't know what to do or how to act. But Mack gave me some great advice. He told me that I was amazing and if Dimitri couldn't see that after five minutes with me he obviously wasn't the one. He also told me that if Dimitri didn't want to take me out, he wouldn't have asked."

"Awe that's so sweet," she said to me.

"I am going to give you the same advice. If Nikolai can't see how incredible you are after five minutes, then he can get the fuck out," I giggled at her expression. "And if he didn't want to go on a date, he wouldn't have asked you. He wants this too."

"Thanks, Rose," Vika smiled at me before wrapping me in a hug. "I can't wait until you legally become my sister."

"I can't wait either," I grinned at her. "Come on let's head downstairs so you can be the one to answer the door and not Dimitri."

"You two look lovely," Olena told us as we walked into the kitchen. "Are you excited for tonight?"

"I am nervous," Viktoria told her mother. "What if he hates me? And I say the wrong thing? Or I do something stupid?"

"That's not going to happen," Olena comforted her daughter. I left the mother and daughter to chat as I went to find my fiancé.

"Hey you," I found Dimitri in the sitting room with a western. I went and joined him on the couch.

"She already?" Dimitri asked as he wrapped an arm around me and put his book down.

"Yeah, she's all nervous," I smiled at him. "I told her I was like that when we first started dating. But that she was amazing and if Nikolai couldn't see that it was his loss, not hers."

"I agree," Dimitri nodded. "I miss home, I miss Russia."

"Me too," I said softly thinking about it. "I wish we could move back here, but I also know that we can't."

"Why not? You are almost done with school," Dimitri said to me.

"Yeah, but what about Lissa," I told him. "I can't exactly leave her to fend for herself, plus I am always going to be bound to her."

"Well, maybe we can figure something out," Dimitri told me. "I think we should visit that couple Babushka was telling us about."

"I agree, she said they would be able to help us," I nodded. "Let's do that sometime next week."

"Rose, Dimka!" Vika called out. "Nikolai is here!"

"Guess that's our cue, come on," I grabbed Dimitri's hand and lugged him off the couch We made our way to the front of the house and saw Nikolai and Vika waiting. The two were obviously excited but nervous. It was so cute.

"You guys ready to go?" Dimitri asked as he fished out the car keys from his pocket. "Pizza and a movie right?"

"Yeah, we can drive separately," Nikolai suggested.

"That's silly," Dimitri said suddenly. "We are all going to the same place, we should drive together. Plus the SUV has more than enough room."

"Okay," Nikolai said noticing he got steam rolled. Poor guy. Dimitri was not going to make it easy for them.

The four of us made our way out to the car. Dimitri went to open the car door for me and I grabbed his collar on his shirt. "If you are nice tonight, I will do that thing you like," I bribed him softly.

"Roza," he groaned out. "Which thing?"

"The one you only get on your birthday," I said softly. "And I will do it tonight, and for a long time too."

I heard Dimitri moan softly as his eyes closed. "Fine," he said harshly.

We both were the last ones to get in the car and Vika gave me a weird look. I looked at her in the back and winked. It wasn't going to be exactly like she wanted but, it was going to be better than before.

Dimitri drove us the fifteen minutes across town, typically we would have walked but January in Siberia was brutal. And you didn't want to be outside longer than ten minutes at a time.

Dinner was really nice, Dimitri took to heart my bribe and was being pleasant. Vika had relaxed realizing her brother wasn't going to be an asshole and she was have a good time with Nikolai. It was really fun for all four of us. Nikolai enjoyed talking to Dimitri when he realized that Dimitri had met some of his ideals. And Dimitri liked that Nikolai seemed a little in awe of his skill. Dimitri also enjoyed that Nikolai was being the perfect gentleman and hadn't even laid his arms around Vika's shoulders.

"What movie should we see?" I asked as we walked the three blocks to the movie theater. "What's even playing?"

"Not much," Vika told me. "I think there are like three documentaries out, a horror movie, a romantic comedy, and a kids movie."

"Oh let's go see the kid's movie!" I squealed with delight. "Please," I begged them.

"I don't want to be in a theater full of screaming kids," Vika complained.

"Vika, it's almost ten," I rolled my eyes. "The only people going to see this movie are teenagers or young adults. Heck, we might be the only ones in the theater."

"That's true," she nodded but looked at Nikolai quickly. I guess she wasn't sure if he would be down to see a kids movie with her.

"I don't mind going to see it," Nikolai said to Vika.

"Fine, we can go see it," Vika rolled her eyes at me.

"Thank you!" I squealed. I swung mine and Dimitri's clasped hands as we continued walking. We soon made it to the theater and bought tickets.

"I want popcorn," Vika said as we walked into the theater.

"I normally would agree but I am so full from the pizza," I laughed. I was sticking with the plan I told Vika so she and Nikolai could get a little alone time.

"You sure you don't want popcorn?" Dimitri asked me, looking at me strangely. "You always want popcorn at the movies."

"I am just really full," I told him. He was right though, I always wanted popcorn at movies. I loved the buttery goodness. No matter what, I always got popcorn.

Dimitri looked at me and put his hand on my forehead. "Are you feeling okay?" He gave me a weird look. Damn, maybe I should have just gotten us popcorn.

"I am fine," I told him. I smacked his hand away from my head.

"I am going to use the restroom," Vika said quickly realizing she needed to stall more. She quickly left us and headed to the restroom.

"I am going to buy us popcorn anyway," Dimitri said as he went to stand in line. "Nikolai, you going to come?"

"I am going to wait for Vika," Nikolai said. "See if she wants anything else, we will meet you two inside."

Dimitri shrugged and bought us both a large popcorn and two sodas. I was actually glad he did, I really did want popcorn for the movie. "We can wait for you two," Dimitri suggested after he came back over.

"Comrade, I want to go get good seats," I said taking one of the sodas from him. "They will meet us inside." I quickly started walking away, giving Dimitri no choice but to follow me. They both needed the time to just be the two of them.

"Why couldn't we wait for them?" Dimitri grumbled. "I didn't want him to try anything. I was being good."

"They are going to buy popcorn," I rolled my eyes at him. "Plus there are a ton of people over there, he isn't going to try anything."

"Fine," he huffed as we headed into the theater.

The theater was actually decently busy. It seemed like this was the main date night movie this weekend. Made sense, the horror movie most girls wouldn't want to go to and the romantic comedy most guys wouldn't want to go to. So that left a documentary or a kids movie. Guess a majority were picking the kids movie.

"Oh look," I pointed out a section in the middle that had four seats. I had to make it look like they were joining us.

"Maybe we should sit in the far back corner," Dimitri suggested. "I would prefer if there was a wall right by us, safety from an attack. Plus people always complain about my head being in the way."

Movie theaters were known to be hiding areas for Strigoi. We were in the middle of town and an attack was unlikely at night in a theater, but if it made Dimitri feel better we could move to an area where our back would be protected.

"We can do that," I nodded. We both walked over to a section of four seats in the far right corner. It was two seats in one row and two seats in another. Dimitri had me slide in against the wall and he took the aisle seat.

"I think I want to retire," Dimitri told me after we got situated in our seats.

"You want to retire from being a Guardian?" I asked him a little confused. "You love being a Guardian."

"I've just been thinking," he shrugged. "And I at least want to have a conversation about it. Would that be okay with you?"

"Babe, I love you for you," I told him. "Not because you are a Guardian, but because you are you. I fell in love with you way before you were a Guardian and I will love you way after you have retired from being one. We can for sure talk about it."

"Thank you," he wrapped his arm around me and we watch the previews.

Dimitri must have been really nervous to bring up retiring as a Guardian because he didn't even notice that Vika and Nikolai never joined us. They sat way on the other end of the theater and had engaged in a serious case of necking.

After the movie was finished we drove home and after making sure Vika got inside okay and Nikolai was fine to drive, we headed out and made our way to the cottage that Abe had rented out for us. It was nice for us to have our own space away from Dimitri's family and away from my father.

We had barely gotten inside when Dimitri turned to me. "I believe you made me a promise," he said cheekily.

A little bit of a filler chapter, but more to come soon! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter :) Be sure to check out my other stories! Also, please remember to leave a review, reviews keep me going :)

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